Polished quill stem & handlebars

[beancounter]

I'm looking for a 1" quill stem and handlebars but would like a polished finish

Cinelli finish is "milky" and Nitto seems to be similar - are there any other good quality manufacturers providing a polished finish?

Thanks for any advice or suggestions

bc

 

[JakeMiddleton]

Re:

If you know anyone who has this sort of equipment you can do it yourself, I once polished a pair of alloy handlebars and an alloy cinelli quill stem on one of these:

That is a big example of this sort of machine but you can get smaller bench versions. I remember I had to put this cutting agent on the cloth wheel before using it. The cutting agent was like a sort of red clay. The effect of this sort of polishing is that it will come out looking as shiny as chrome. Its not too hard, I hadn't done it before and it was easy.

The only thing I would say is that if its a bad quality alloy it doesent seem to work in the same way. The cinelli stem came up really nicely this way but when I tried a cheap and cheerful stem it didn't have quite the same effect.

 

[Midlife]

Are you after any particular era. Used / New?

3TTT bars / stems back in the 70's came highly polished. It's easy to polish off the anodising from an old Cinelli with a bit of oven cleaner and elbow grease.

Shaun

 

[Jonny69]

ITM stems aren't anodised.

GB, Dawes and Raleigh handlebars aren't anodised either.

 

[beancounter]

Are you after any particular era. Used / New?

3TTT bars / stems back in the 70's came highly polished. It's easy to polish off the anodising from an old Cinelli with a bit of oven cleaner and elbow grease.

Shaun

Was really looking for new, hence the reference to currently available Cinelli and Nitto

Dia Compe do a nice selection of stems but only touring handlebars, as far as I can see (I'm not touring...)

I need quill because it's going on a Cinelli Supercorsa (new)

bc

 

[Robbied196]

5 - 10 mins soaking in oven pride will strip the anodising, then you can polish away with autoglym metal polish

 

[Rampage]

If it's milky it's most likely anodised.
I've never found anything made of aluminium that can't be made very shiney. Even poor quality cast parts can be polished.

 

[elPedro666]

Elbow grease required!

I have heard of old washing machines being converted to polishing wheels...

 

[Rampage]

Re:

It wouldn't be fast enough to polish aluminium efficiently.
Cheapest way for something powerful enough is to use a 3000rpm motor with an attachment for the wheel, someone on eBay sells them.
You'd need a DOL switch of course.

 

[oonaff]

whats dol switch ? i dont know what my rpm is on my grinder ? its a 'power devil' 150w 50hz... no good ?